South Burlington school subtracts homework

Julia Conway, a second-grader at Orchard School in South Burlington, greets her father at the end of the day on Thursday, September 8, 2016. Teachers at the school aren't assigning homework this year.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

SOUTH BURLINGTON - An elementary school's principal and teachers agreed just weeks before the start of the school year to do away with an age-old tradition: homework.

"The more I looked into it, the more I saw the minimal value of homework, and so we had a full faculty discussion. By the end of it — it was unanimous," Orchard Elementary School Principal Mark Trifilio said.

He'd been thinking about the idea for a while, he told the Free Press. He wanted to be certain that all 40 teachers were on board, so he revisited the idea the week after the decision to confirm his staff's initial positive response. They were still enthusiastic.

"You just don't get that kind of commitment and passion for kids lives outside of school," Trifilio said.

“I think he’s absolutely courageous for trying this,” first grade teacher Abby Klein said. She and Deirdre Phalon, a special education teacher, fully support the initiative and confirmed staff was unanimous in approving the decision.

The National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association recommend 10 minutes of homework per grade level. For example, 10 minutes for first grade and 20 for second, and so on to build study habits. But Trifilio thinks this is an old mandate.

"I think that idea is a little dated," Trifilio said. "I think we have been doing homework forever without really discussing it's purpose and challenging beliefs."

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Principal Mark Trifilio greets students off the bus on the first day of classes last year at Orchard School in South Burlington on Tuesday, August 25, 2015.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

He encourages every elementary school administration to really take a good look at their beliefs about homework. His own beliefs were shaped by Alfie Kohn's "The Homework Myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing."

In his post on the school website he wrote an explanation to parents that said — among other things — "there is little or no research that homework supports academic achievement."

Trifilio believes that homework can actually inhibit students from learning. And beside that, it can cause conflict at home.

Instead of homework, Trifilio is recommending reading, playing, family dinners and a good night's sleep. Healthy eating, physical activity and sleep patterns are are known to benefit school-age children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When asked about families who don’t read or eat together, Trifilio countered that homework could be even more of an issue for those families.

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Anika Erickson, a fourth-grader at Orchard School in South Burlington, left, and her mother Sara Larkin discuss how teachers at the school aren't assigning homework this year on Thursday, September 8, 2016.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

“If you ask that, you also have to ask: how is homework accessible at home for children who have working parents or parents not available or parents that don’t speak English,” Trifilio said.

His biggest concern is the achievement gap.

To address this teachers are recommending and providing via school and class libraries "just right books" which are supposed to be perfectly suited to students interests and reading levels.

He says that anecdotal feedback so far is positive. Kids are reading more.

Kids and parents at the Orchard School on Thursday afternoon were — with one exception — in favor of the staff decision.

"I don't know if I have an opinion yet either way on how it's going to impact her curriculum. She's thrilled, because she has more time for extracurricular activities like sports, but it's too soon to tell," Larkin said. "So far it's a positive choice."

"I like it. I go home and do nothing," Anika said hinting at mischief. She later conceded that she is, in fact, enjoying "Walk Two Moons," a novel by her favorite author Sharon Creech.

Last year she said her homework took at least a half an hour.

"I love it — kids are pressured enough in school already," said Winooski preschool teacher Sarah Koski as she waited for her partner's son Calvin.

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Julia Conway, a second-grader at Orchard School in South Burlington, discusses how teachers at the school aren't assigning homework this year on Thursday, September 8, 2016.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

"I just heard about that last night, and I assumed my daughter was lying to me or had been tricked," James Conway said of the new strategy. He and his family recently moved to South Burlington from southern Vermont.

“Part of it I like, but part it I don’t like,” said second-grader Julia Conway, the lone critic of the no-homework strategy. She explained that she actually liked having work to do at home.

Her brother James Conway, a kindergartner, thought the idea was good.

“I do have some work at home though. A book. I like it,” he said.

His father explained the book was the classic “Where the Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak.

"He thinks his library book is homework. I think he was looking forward to homework, because he’s seen it before," Conway said.

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Students leave Orchard School in South Burlington at the end of the day on Thursday, September 8, 2016. Teachers at the school aren't assigning homework this year.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

"Our family feels really good about it," Anna Leavey said. Her daughter Molly is in third grade and son Spencer is in kindergarten. She spoke of them as readers with good study habits in place already.

Chittenden South Supervisory Union School Board Chairman David Connery confirmed that at least one school his district in Chittenden County has experimented with no homework on a class-by-class basis.

Patrick Leduc, chairman of South Burlington's school board, confirmed that Orchard is the only South Burlington elementary with a school-wide directive, and there are no other classes in the city going homework-free.

"Orchard's assessment/pilot will assist the administration and the two other elementary schools regarding advisement of homework," Leduc wrote on Friday.

"Whether it is sports or science, we want everyone to follow their passion here at Orchard," Trifilio said.

It’s still an experiment. Student assessments, according to Trifilio, occur in September, January and May. The first review to check students’ progress will be in October.

This story was first posted online on Sept. 8, 2016. It was updated at 9 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2016. Contact Nicole Higgins DeSmet, ndesmet@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1845. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHDeSmet.

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